State v. Boots

Defendant appealed his conviction of aggravated murder, asserting four assignments of error in the Court of Appeals. That court affirmed the conviction. State v. Boots, 94 Or App 713, 767 P2d 450 (1989). We allowed review limited to the propriety of the trial court’s instruction that the jury need not agree on the factual circumstance that made the homicide aggravated murder as distinct from simple murder. We hold that this instruction should not have been given.

An intentional homicide, or a homicide committed in connection with one of nine felonies listed in ORS 163.115(1), constitutes the…